Accident-prone drivers are held to account

If insurance applications ever make you wonder whether your career is working with or against you, you’d better hope you’re not an accountant.

Accountants have been labelled the worst drivers in Britain after car insurance specialist 1st Central studied the claims history of more than a million drivers.

Money men (and women) are responsible for more than 16,000 accident damage claims per year, says the company – around 44 every single day.

Solicitors are equally troublesome, with over 15,000 annual car insurance claims recorded. Third place goes to doctors, whose long hours at work might be leading them to make mistakes on the road. The profession climbs to the ignominious podium from ninth-worst last year.

Financial advisers, letting agents, airline cabin crew and pharmacists are all on the list of the ten professions most likely to claim.

At the more desirable end of the scale are roofers, who were responsible for just over 3,850 car insurance claims last year. Farm workers also dipped below 4,000 and into second place.

Honourable mentions go to builders, lorry drivers, cleaners, carpet fitters and butchers, who are all among the least likely to make a claim.

A spokesman for 1st Central said: “People often have preconceived ideas about how certain professions behave on the roads.

“Our data dispels a number of these myths, but it’s interesting to see that a number of professions we trust with our safety are actually the worst on the road.”